E.-i

\vas admitted one month before he died; 1 boy (aged 9), who was ill when he entered the school, of heart disease; and 1 boy (between 10 and 11) of enteritis, after six weeks' illness. A girl between 12 and 13 was sent from Burnham to the hospital at Christchurch, suffering from pneumonia, and died after five weeks' illness. The other three children were on the books of Caversham School. Two were girls—one of 13, who was living with her friends (under license), and one of about 12, idiotic and epileptic, who had been boarded out, and was afterwards sent first to the hospital and then to the asylum, wdiere she was seized with paralysis, which terminated fatally; the third was a boy of 6, committed to Caversham from Wellington, but in such a state of emaciation that it was necessary to send him at once to the Wellington Hospital instead of to the school, and he passed away in a few days. Of the 238 children committed (154 boys and 84 girls), 98 were described as destitute, 48 as guilty of punishable offences, 42 as living in disreputable places, 25 as vagrant, and 25 as uncontrollable. One hundred and four of these children are reported as having attended no school (65 of them being under 5 years of age), 97 had been at public schools, 29 at Roman Catholic schools, 5 at private schools, 1 at a high school, 1 at an industrial school, and 1 at an English Board school. To the Church of England belong 106 of the children committed, to the Roman Catholic Church 94, 25 are Presbyterian, 10 Wesleyan and other Methodists, 1 Baptist, 1 Congregational, and 1 Lutheran. The statement made in Table U shows 50 cases in which the father and mother were both to blame, besides 31 in which the father's character was unsatisfactory, and 49 in which the mother was at fault, while 80 cases seem to be attributable to misfortune, and 7 others may belong to this class, and there are 21 cases in which the information does not justify any conclusion.

TABLE V.—Committed Children classified according to Parents' Circumstances and Character.

The cost of maintenance of the Thames Industrial School, which is a local school, is defrayed by the local authorities, wdio also receive any contributions received from the parents of the children in the school.* The private (that is, Roman Catholic) schools receive from the Government Is. a day for every child under the age of 15, except for children committed as destitute, for whom they receive payment from Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards, recoveries from parents being received by the Government or the Boards according as the liability falls on the one or the other. The Government payments to such schools was made by the Colonial Secretary's Department until the end of March, 1886. From that time to the end of the year payment was made by this department, the payments made and recoveries obtained from parents being as follows:—

* The department has however received a sum of £33 lis. Id. as a refuna on account of payments made before the present method of maintenance came into force.

3—E. 1.

XVII

Mothers described as Children of Sick, -. „ - Not n^s, Lunatic "' t,0? d known Dead- Disabled, Character or not &e. (or Poor). stateeL Ch°ara Bc a4. deserters. Total. Fathers described as— Deaa Sick, lunatic, disabled, &c. .. Of good character (or poor) .. Not known or not described Of bad character Deserters ,, .. 11 1 21 2 4 10 12 8 4 3 6 12 2 13 1 1 13 7 6 1 16 5 3 12 24 11 ii 2 52 8 69 28 37 44 i 15 Totals 71 28 238 49 33 29 28